Train order hoop



Sept. 12, 1939.

I E. KAPPEN TRAIN ORDER HOOP Filed March 25, 1938 INVENTOR. ELM ER KAF'PEN.

BY av 17 I am ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to a device known as a train order hoop.

A train order hoop is used to hand an order to the engineer of a moving train. When a train is to receive an order at a station without stopping, it usually slows down to about 30 or 40 miles an hour; the order is attached to the hoop by the dispatcher and as the train passes it is held up and grasped by the engineer and after the order has been removed from the hoop by the engineer the hoop is thrown back on the platform. In the event that the engineer cannot grasp the hoop, or the order is detached and lost, the train must be stopped and backed into the station to receive the orders; in the event that there is any difiiculty on removing the order from the hoop the train will have passed the station before it can be thrown back, and the attendant at the station will be compelled to walk up the track in order to retrieve the hoop.

As the train is on the right-hand track the engineer would ordinarily grasp the hoop with his right hand and his left would then seize the handle placing his thumb on the thumb-lever; he would remove the order with his right hand and throw the hoop back with his left hand. My invention enables an engineer to receive a hoop, remove the order, and throw the hoop back with four co-ordinated motions of the hands; I at- 30 tain these objects by the use of a piece of rattan cane, which is bent so that its central part will form a hoop, and the extreme parts of the rattan cane are clamped together so that they are parallel; the said parallel portions of the rattan 5 cane thus forming the handle of the train order hoop, and the space between the parallel pieces of cane, which for the handle is utilized to hold the dispatch or order, there is a thumb lever at the lower part of the handle, which spreads the space between the parallel pieces of cane forming the handle, so that the order can be easily removed.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1 is an elevation View of the hoop.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a lower part of the handle.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken at 33 of Fig. 2. The rattan cane 4 is a single piece of rattan cane, preferably from 7 feet to 9 feet in length; it is bent and clamped at the extremes with the clamp 5 and at the upper end of the handle it 5 is clamped with the clamp 6 the thumb lever l is used to spread the parallel parts of cane 4 thus enlarging the space 8, into which is inserted the order 9, shown by dotted lines.

In operation the dispatcher holds the train 10 order by the handle near clamp 5, placing his thumb on the lever I, which he presses to open space 8, into which he inserts the order 9. He then holds up the loop towards the moving cab of the engine, and the engineer seizes the loop 15 with his right hand and then grasps the handle of the loop near the clamp 5 with his left hand, placing his thumb on the lever l, which he presses thus opening space 8, and with his right hand he removes the order 9, and throws loop 20 5 back on the platform with his left hand.

I claim:

In a device of the character described comprising a rattan can-e bent to form a train order hoop, the central portion bent to form a loop, end portions continued parallel to each other and thereby forming the handle, a clamp or binding at the upper end of the handle at the point where the handle ends and the loop commences, a binding at the opposite end of the handle, a thumb lever inserted between the two end portions of the cane forming the handle in such manner that one of the end portions of the cane forming the handle becomes the fulcrum for the thumb lever and the other of the end portions of the cane forming the handle may be forced away or apart from the fulcrum piece of the handle, the space thus created between the said component portions of the said handle formed for receiving a train order, said end portions gripping said order by the resiliency of the cane, and being released by the operation of the thumb lever in to forcing apart the said end portions of the cane for the withdrawal of the train order.

ELMER KAPPEN. 

